


DNA

by hello_nurse



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Drabblesque, Gen, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 00:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16186634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hello_nurse/pseuds/hello_nurse
Summary: Erika Killmonger comes home.





	DNA

**Author's Note:**

> I guess this can be called a drabble, it's something that's been gathering dust, so why the hell not share? 
> 
> The entire premise of this is that T'chaka might have killed his brother, but his heart wouldn't allow him to abandon his now orphaned niece.

She’s a long way from that little apartment in Oakland, but Wakanda is home in a way that fills all those sharp, empty places where she keeps her rage and her dreams. W’kabi greets her with a faint smile. “You’re late,” he tells her.

“Nah,” Erika replies warmly, “I’m right where I need to be. Everybody else ready?”

“They’re approaching the Falls. Shuri wanted to make sure you had an escort,” he says as his eyebrow lifts minutely. “Something about you having to suffer as much as she does. I didn’t care to ask.”

Erika snorts because her little cousin would make damn sure of that. “Let’s go, then.”

T’chaka was a good king but a complicated man and T’challa is his mother’s son in his thoughtfulness and compassion. Wakanda could use more of that, people in general could use more of that. She need to speak to T’challa, tell him what she’s seen, what she’s lived.

And that they can help, that they _should_ help.

For now, Erika will be content to simply see him crowned.

It doesn’t take long for her and W’kabi to reach Golden City so she can change and it takes them even less time to join the others, Shuri immediately throws her arms around her as Ramonda’s shock quickly turns into exasperated affection. Her daughter has certainly been more evasive than usual, but she thought it connected to some new invention, not the unexpected arrival of her beloved niece.

“Hey, auntie,” Erika murmurs with a soft, crooked smile as Shuri beams at her mother, pleased that her secret paid off.

Nakia seems just as delighted by this surprise and Okoye meets W’kabi’s eyes, the two sharing a brief, intimate glance.

Even the elders seem approving and T’challa’s stoic countenance subtly shifts into something more relaxed and resolved when he sees her. Zuri allows himself a visible smile and Erika dips her head in greeting to him before smirking at T’challa.

Like most people gathered here, she doesn’t want the throne, the crown. When she was a child, so angry and lost even in the midst of all this splendor, she dreamt of tearing all this beauty asunder with fire, smoke, and her own blood. Now, Erika is happy to have a home, an even bigger family to return to.

She could do without the barking, though.

She shifts in front of Ramonda and Shuri, trusting the Dora Milaje to protect them if she should fall, which is fucking unlikely. For anyone to even daydream about laying an ashy ass hand on either of them, she damn well better be deep down in the ground and rotting.

Zuri is calm and T’challa straightens as an obvious challenger approaches.

Erika narrows her eyes as she licks her teeth absently because this man looks ready to buck and she hasn’t had a good scrap in so long. It’s almost a shame he’s here to fight T’challa because she wants to feel him _break_.

He opens his mouth and gives his spiel,  _tradition_ and all that shit, but she only has one question.

“Ay, whose man is this?” she asks with furrowed brows as she gestures at him.

Shuri’s snickers are quickly silenced by a swift, reproachful glance from her mother and T’challa’s eyes are bright with amusement by Erika’s outburst despite his face not cracking. She meets M’baku’s heavy gaze with a lift of her chin and her mouth slanted because she might not want the crown, but no one gets to roll up on her kin like this.

“It is his right,” Zuri says, voice loud enough to carry over the roar of the Falls, “the challenge will begin!”

T’challa nods then drinks from the bowl that will strip him of his powers and Erika rocks with everyone else as the battle begins. She already knows the outcome. M’baku is strong and relentless, there’s no doubting that, but T’challa, his hands are steady because he knows this man’s life is them. He fights to win, for a clean win, not to humiliate or humble his opponent. He’s a good man, a kind man.

The broke down, white boy they had in the freezer is proof of that, so was the presence of those other costumed fools he gave asylum to while she was out in the field. Erika loves her family, she does, but she gets restless. Their people extend beyond those living in Wakanda.

They should be doing so much more. They can do _more_.

Hopefully she can get T'challa to see that.


End file.
